1. Field of Invention
The present invention concerns a light module of an illumination device of a motor vehicle. In the present case, a light module is understood to be the core light-emitting unit of an illumination device that emits the desired distribution of emitted light.
2. Description of the Related Art
The state of the art consists of various illumination devices for motor vehicles. A distinction is made here between headlights and lighting devices. Headlights serve primarily for the illumination of the road ahead of the vehicle, but also to increase road safety by making the vehicle visible to other drivers. Consequently, headlights are normally designed for the front of the vehicle. In contrast, lighting devices are primarily designed for road safety purposes by making the vehicle visible to other drivers. Lighting devices may include front lighting devices on the front of the vehicle (such as position light, blinkers) or as rear lighting devices on the rear of the vehicle (such as brake light, back-up light, blinkers). Lighting devices on the side of the vehicle, such as side running lights, are also known.
Depending on the specific application, the distribution of emitted light must satisfy characteristic intensity patterns that will normally be specified by law. Headlights will normally be required to emit a low beam distribution (low beam, fog lights) with a characteristic separation of light and dark or a high beam distribution with illumination of spot areas. Lighting devices may also be desired to have emitted light distributions that illuminate areas with curved or narrow cross sections. Lighting devices may also be designed for wider area coverage or for fan-shaped coverage. The lateral extent of coverage may significantly exceed the density of the area coverage or of the light fan, for example.
In order to produce emitted light distributions with such unconventional spatial dimensions, it is often necessary to use relatively costly designs with several lenses, with fiber optics, with prisms and/or with a large number of reflectors. Given the number of components and the complexity of the design, such solutions will often be very expensive and may require much room.